Knitting through the Ages

It is my hope that traditional hand knitting will be a skill passed down from generation to generation for years to come. However it certainly is not as wide spread a skill these days. Of course, if hand knitting becomes a rarity, commercial knits will continue in the form of jersey, lycra and many other types of fabrics of a knitted construction.

Fortunately, the dying of the art of hand knitting, is far beyond my time on earth, just as knitting has been long before many of my ancestor’s time on earth.

One of the earliest known examples of true knitting was cotton socks with stranded knit color patterns found in Egypt from the end of the first millennium AD. Since the pattern is rather intricate, and they are made from cotton (prone to degrade over time), one would expect that knitting was around much earlier, especially in its most simple one colour form.

 

Cotton socks found in Egypt are some of the earliest knitted pieces. From L to R: Textile Museum, ca. 1000 – 1200 AD; Victorian & Albert Museum, ca. 1100 – 1300 AD; Textile Museum, ca. 1300 AD

Earlier finds, that have the appearance of knitting date back to 300 AD, and are made using a Scandinavian technique call Nålebinding (Needle Binding), this is a great topic for another day!

Yes, knitting has been around for a long time and has been featured in many ways through the ages.

Through Painting and Drawings – Pictured is a painting by Meister Bertram, said to be the oldest depiction of knitting in art (late 14th century), and is in the collection of the Hamburg Kunsthalle Museum.

In Movies and TV – Here are some famous actresses getting to work on their knitting. Audrey Hepburn in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’. Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton) knitting on ‘All In The Family’…. the later may be showing my age, but it was a funny show.

 

Actresses have been known to pass the time on the set behind the scenes knitting too, and recently too! Pictured here is Sarah Jessica Parker.

In print… on Stamps! I love these, not just as the wife of a stamp collector, but as it shows how a country has recognized a past time that has become unique to its own nation.

On a final note, knitting is not just women. Men have had a history with knitting too. Shepherds and fishermen feature in the fully history of knitting, and there are still some men (and known to me) that knit!

So as long as we keep loving knitwear it will prevail, and hopefully the youth of today will be keen to continue to learn the craft!